Utica Common Council Debates HSBC Building’s Future

The Utica Common Council continues it's debate on just what to do about the HSBC building in downtown Utica. Last night, the council heard from the city's Commissioner of Urban Development, Randolph Soggs, who says that the building is not financially viable, telling the council that it would cost more money to repair it than the building is worth.

According to Soggs, the building is full of mold and debris and has been stripped of it's fixtures and copper piping. "We don't know what happened to this building, we don't know who took what and by what authority things where taken", Boggs said in a post-meeting interview. The building is currently listed for sale, with a price tag of $350,000, "I think the Council feels that they could potentially be rewarding someone (the building's owner) for inappropriate behavior", he added, if the city were to purchase the property.

Common Council President, William Morehouse feels that the real losers in this situation are Utica city taxpayers, "Who's going to come into the city and put maybe 2 or 3 million dollars into a building without some sunstantial help."